Rudman: A true leader, statesman

Wednesday

Nov 21, 2012 at 3:15 AM

News came late Tuesday morning that former U.S. Senator Warren B. Rudman has passed away at the age of 82. As it turns out, we learned of the news while contemplating an editorial for Thanksgiving Day.

Perhaps it is fate then that leads the editorial board here at Foster’s Daily Democrat to be thankful for such leaders and statesmen as Warren Rudman.

Given the gridlock that has stymied Washington, the life and times of Sen. Rudman offer a lesson on how good government should be run — with allegiance to the truth, not party.

Legislatively, Rudman, a Republican, is perhaps best known for co-sponsoring the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings budget-cutting law that was working until his own party played politics.

As we are reminded by The Associated Press in announcing Rudman’s passing:

“The Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act was approved in 1985. It was designed to end federal deficits by 1991 and required automatic spending cuts if annual deficit targets were missed. Congress rolled back the timetable each year, and the 1991 budget that was supposed to be balanced carried the second-highest deficit in history.”

After leaving the Senate, Rudman teamed up with former Democratic Sen. Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts to found the Concord Coalition, which has campaigned for a balanced budget.

Rudman’s ethics also superseded party.

As a member of the Senate’s Iran-Contra Committee, Rudman spared the Reagan administration no criticism, accusing some of its officials with “pervasive dishonesty” while selling weapons to Nicaraguan rebels. He took on Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, a hero of the political right, for his role in the operation.

Rudman also served on the committee that investigated the “Keating Five,” senators (including Republican Sen. John McCain) with ties to the savings and loan scandal in 1991.

None of this is to suggest Rudman’s tenure in public office was without controversy. For better or worse, he stood behind New Hampshire Justice David Souter in his bid to sit on the United States Supreme Court, something which wound up offending the political right. But he also voted in favor of Clarence Thomas, something seen as an affront to the political left.

But perhaps therein lies the lesson of Rudman’s life and times as a public servant and statesman.

Rudman always seemed to be able to see the larger picture. He was not one to wallow in the minutia. If the occasion called for standing rock solid he did. If compromise and reaching across the aisle was the order of the day, so be it.

Many of today’s politicians, here in New Hampshire and in Washington, stand to learn much from studying Rudman. But of all the lessons to be learned, perhaps the most important is that the job of senator, coalition leader or N.H. Attorney General is not about the individual. It is about the people he or she serves and the good of the state and the nation.

For that alone, Warren Rudman joins the ranks of some of New Hampshire’s best and finest public servants.